Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold direct talks, and said that Ukraine could not afford to simply wait for the Trump administration to refocus on the war while Washington remains heavily engaged in the conflict with Iran.In an open letter – his first public message to the Russian leader since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 – Zelenskyy criticised Putin’s 26-year rule.“I am proposing a meeting,” Zelenskyy wrote. Zelenskyy proposed that any negotiations take place in a neutral country, ruling out both Moscow and Kyiv as venues. He suggested Switzerland, Turkey and Arab nations as possible hosts.“It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be. I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting,” he added.He also called for the return of Ukrainian civilians and children taken to Russia during the war.“The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia,” Zelenskyy said.He also claimed Ukrainian intelligence had information suggesting Russia was preparing for a prolonged conflict extending into 2027 and 2028, while increasingly relying on missile strikes to achieve objectives that have eluded its ground forces.Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to draw Belarus further into the war and of seeking to destabilise Transnistria, the Russia-backed breakaway region of Moldova.He further claimed that Russia suffered more than 30,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded in May alone, saying Ukraine had video evidence of the losses and that similar casualty rates had persisted for months.The Ukrainian president’s appeal comes at a critical stage in the war. Ukraine has recently improved its position through enhanced long-range strike capabilities that have complicated Russian military operations, even as Moscow intensifies aerial bombardments and ballistic missile attacks across the country.
